Ever since their inception, computers have virtually exploded upon the work place. One part of their appeal and commercial success is attributable to the computers' great versatility. Often, the same computer can be programmed to perform various functions. This ability stems from the fact that a given computer can run a wide range of different types of software applications. Computer software, more commonly known as computer programs, are sets of instructions which direct the computer hardware (i.e., the physical components) to perform certain desired functions. Some common examples of software applications include data processing, word processing/desktop publishing, computer-aided design/drafting, games, etc. Indeed, a stand-alone computer without any software is virtually useless.
Creating a computer program typically involves expending a great deal of time, effort, and resources to write the lines of "code" (i.e., instructions) for achieving the desired results. In addition, most computer programs involve a great deal of creativity. Moreover, before a computer program is marketed, the program is subjected to extensive "debugging" to ensure that it operates properly under almost every scenario. Debugging a computer program is extremely time consuming and labor intensive.
Furthermore, due to major advances in semiconductor technology, computers are becoming faster and have increased processing capabilities. To take advantage of the improvements in the computer hardware, programmers are designing ever more complex and sophisticated software which offer more features to the computer user. These complex and sophisticated computer programs take correspondingly more time, effort, and resources to develop and debug. Consequently, the finished product is quite valuable commercially. However, duplicate copies can cheaply be made from the original finished product.
Duplicates are relatively easy to make. It is basically a two step process. First, the computer program is down-loaded onto a computer system, usually by reading it from a magnetic disk. Next, the program is written onto a different disk (or even potentially onto the same disk or onto a different media, such as tape), thereby creating a duplicate copy.
Because computer programs can so easily be duplicated, there is a major problem for software developers in that "pirates" who obtain a copy of a computer program, illegally duplicate the copy. These illicit duplicates are given away or sold at a lower cost than the developer's products. This illegal practice directly results in vast amounts of lost revenue for the software developers.
In response, software developers have instigated various software protection mechanisms to prevent their programs from being copied, so that illicit copies do not operate correctly. However, one disadvantage with typical prior art software protection mechanisms is that they tend to be relatively easy to "crack." In other words, pirates find ways to bypass the protection mechanisms.
Another disadvantage is that, it is often at times more convenient for the software developers, rather than making the duplicates themselves, to have the duplicates made further down the distribution chain (e.g., by one of their distributors, dealers, or vendors). If so, this entails disclosing the developer's closely guarded protection mechanism to one or more third parties to enable them to duplicate the software. Persons outside the software development company would know how to bypass that particular protection mechanism, thereby creating security problems.
Another drawback associated with having third parties produce duplicates is that it is difficult to verify the number of duplicates made by the third parties. It is hard for the developers to accurately determine how many duplicates were made and to ensure that they receive a license fee for each duplicate that was made and sold. Similar problems exist for the developers whose products are used to facilitate the development of computer programs and for developers supplying software components which are used in the computer programs of others. Deserved licensing fees might be lost due to the difficulty of accounting for the numbers of times their products were used or implemented by others.
Another disadvantage with typical prior art software protection mechanisms is that they fail to provide for contingencies, wherein multiple terminals on a computer network communicate with one another to accomplish a specific task by running the same computer program. Software developers lose revenue due to lost sales if, rather than purchasing a copy for each of the terminals, a single copy of the computer program is used to individually load each of the multiple terminals.
One prior art method for safeguarding software involves encoding individual serial numbers in each of the legitimate duplicates. A record is then kept, which tracks each of the legitimate duplicates according to their serial numbers. Thereby, if a pirated copy is found, it can be tracked back to its source by means of its encoded serial number. However, this type of software protection suffers from the fact that once a pirate locates the serial number, the pirate can replace it with a totally spurious serial number. The pirate can then make counterfeit copies utilizing the spurious serial numbers. As a result, the counterfeit copies cannot be traced back by their spurious serial numbers.
Thus, what is needed is an apparatus and method for safeguarding computer software from unauthorized copying. In particular, an apparatus and method is needed to track the source of a particular copy, and to verify the number of duplicates made by a licensed third party. It would also be highly preferable for the apparatus and method to prevent a single copy from being simultaneously loaded onto multiple terminals of a computer network based on that single copy.